Lockport pool to open June 2 despite needed repairs

Ben Lundin Staff Writer

Friday

May 23, 2008 at 3:00 PM

LOCKPORT -- Bitter discussions over the future of an ill-fated public swimming pool led to little in the way of a resolution at a recreation board meeting held Thursday night, other than a promise from officials that it will be opened despite on-going leakage problems that have yet to be fully addressed.

Lockportís town pool will be open to the public after the Memorial Day weekend, but its problems are legion.

A recent pipe-repair effort has done little to combat water leakage of about 1 million gallons per month.

Members of Recreation District Board No. 1, which oversees the Lockport area, were told earlier this month that the cracked base of the pool, as board chairman Bob Barker put it, was a "colander."

The news comes following completion of $40,000 in parish-funded repairs to aging inlet pipes at the 50-year-old pool, pipes the recreation districtís board members had wrongly blamed as the cause of water leakage.

Board members have yet to pinpoint the exact amount of water loss stemming from cracks along the base of the pool, but say they will use the boardís tax money to absorb what could be as much as $3,000 monthly in water and chemicals.

That is, at least until swimming season ends in October, when the pool will be shut down at least or until the following spring.

Before these issues arose, officials said last month that the pool would be available year-round for the first time in six years.

The cracks put a damper on that plan, effectively ending some pre-season training for the competitive Lockport Lightning swim team, the Central Lafourche High School swim team and use by a group of elderly aerobic swimmers affectionately known as the Gray Panthers.

Members drew a vicious flurry of barbed comments at their board meeting Thursday night from some in the audience, who said the board cared little about the poolís future.

Lockport resident Mary Ledet called for a revamping of the board, adding that members wasted taxpayer dollars on less pressing issues.

"As it stands, the pool remains without water, and I know this is unhealthy for any pool. And our local high school swim team is swimming in Larose. We obviously have the funds, letís fix what we have and use all our facilities to the fullest," Ledet said, reading aloud from an e-mail sent to multiple members of the community.

Board members fired back, igniting a nearly hour-long spate of arguments over the uncertain future of the pool.

Member Armand Autin called it a "spineless e-mail," adding that the publicís unwillingness to go one summer without the pool barred officials from potentially building a replacement.

"Her actions have been and shall always be destructive," he said of Ledet. "This short timers syndromeÖ Thatís what makes this long-term solution so difficult."

Barker defended the board, noting that the majority of its budget and topics discussions have been directed towards the pool.

"Have we always made the right decision? Hell no, we havenít," he said. "The only people who donít make mistakes are those who sit there and backbite. Errors of commission are better than errors of omission."

Lafourche Parish Councilman Rodney Doucet, one of more than a dozen people in attendance, stepped into the raucous discussions in attempt to calm both sides.

"Speak your peace and say, ŽIím willing to do what I need to do to get this accomplished," he said. "Hopefully this can get resolved, because I donít like drama, it brings trauma."

His statements quelled relations between board members and the public, but left the poolís future -- which has been in doubt for several years -- no less uncertain.

Board members said a new pool will cost about $350,000, money parish officials say they donít have to spend.

Meanwhile, the cost to maintain the pool has totaled $220,000 since 2000. It also underwent a $250,000 renovation in the 1990s.

Board members said the Lafourche Parish Water District will likely contribute some money for pool upkeep this year, and Central Lafourche High School -- which uses the pool as a practice area for its swim team -- may help as well.

Theyíre also examining whether a pool liner, which they estimate to cost about $100,000, may alleviate water leakage.

Barker said the board would buy a liner only if the price falls well under that estimate.

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